The city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is
investigating the death of a carriage horse, Smoothie, in an accident on
Friday that drew new attention to the conditions of the dozens of
carriage horses used to transport tourists in Central Park and Midtown.

The accident occurred around 4:50 p.m. on Central Park
South between Fifth Avenue and Avenue of the Americas, where several
carriage horses were parked in a row. According to witnesses, a man
walked past the horses while beating a small drum, which caused a brown
horse that was hitched to a carriage to bolt onto the sidewalk, darting
between two poles that were about two feet apart.

The horse made it through but the carriage did not, and
as the horse struggled to move forward, it collapsed and died, witnesses
said. At the same time, a second horse ran into the street and leaped
onto the hood of a passing Mercedes-Benz, witnesses said. That horse
survived, and the passengers in the car, which was badly damaged, said
they were not injured. (The drummer subsequently denied trying to scare
any horses.)

“We have had staff out all day,” Geoffrey Cowley, a
spokesman for the Health Department, said in a phone interview. “They
have interviewed both of the carriage horse drivers extensively. They
have been out to the stables that boarded both of these horses. They’re
checking the health of the other horses in those stables and looking at
log books.”

Mr. Cowley acknowledged that the investigation did not
begin right away because of uncertainty about which agency had the
primary responsibility. The Health Department, through its Bureau of
Veterinary and Pest Control Services, part of the Division of
Environmental Health, regulates animal care and control, but the
Department of Consumer Affairs regulates the Central Park carriage
industry, which is said to include 68 carriages, 293 drivers and 220
horses. Earlier this month, the city comptroller’s office issued a
highly critical audit that found lapses in how the horses are cared for.

“Because responsibility for this has been so fractured
among city agencies,” Mr. Cowley said, “it hasn’t been absolutely clear
whose jurisdiction it really fell into.”

As the comments on City Room show, the death of Smoothie
has generated strong emotions.

The Horse and Carriage Association of New York issued a
statement calling on the city to install hitching posts where horses can
be tethered while they are waiting; establish hack stands or areas
clearly identifying where carriages may pick up passengers; and prohibit
“all musical bands, street musicians or amplified music near the horse
staging areas.”

The association also called for more water spigots and
better drainage in the areas along Fifth and Sixth Avenues where horses
line up, as well as more tie ropes on harnesses to “ensure better
restraint of horses during inactive periods” and “sensitivity training
for new drivers to increase horse behavioral awareness.”

The association defended its right to operate horses,
saying that the carriages have been “a beloved and popular fixture”
since the 19th century. The association cited the 1967 film “Barefoot in
the Park,” in which newlyweds played by Jane Fonda and Robert Redford
snuggled in a carriage, and said that horse-drawn carriages are operated
in Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, New Orleans, Vancouver, Denver, San
Antonio, Ottawa and Nashville.

The Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages asserted that
carriage owners were trying to evade responsibility by blaming street
musicians. The animal-rights group asserted that previous horses had
also been scared, when no music was involved.

“While it is highly possible that the loud drums spooked
Smoothie and led to her tragic death, there were no street musicians
nearby in all of the other spooking accidents,” the coalition said in a
statement.

The coalition noted that a training manual used by
operators of the carriages cites a number of urban phenomena that can
spook a horse, including manhole covers, potholes, motorcycles and
diesel trucks, ambulance and police sirens, barking dogs and noisy
crowds. The coalition said in its statement:

"Horses are prey animals that rely on flight to run from
danger. Particularly in a congested city like New York, many things can
spook a horse — from the obvious like loud horns, sirens, cars
backfiring, and motorcycles, to the innocuous, like trash blowing in the
wind. A horse weighing 1,500 to 2,000 pounds is a weapon – a danger to
himself and to others when spooked. Is the city waiting for a human
death before it takes action? The best solution to respect these gentle
giants and acknowledge the safety of the public is to ban the horse
carriage industry and bring New York City into the 21st century,
following the lead of important tourist cities like London, Paris and
Toronto."

Smoothie, the carriage horse that darted onto the sidewalk, was spooked
by a drumming sound, witnesses said. (Photo: Mark Sullivan)

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